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A web page about Balkans, Europe, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Serbia, Turkey, War, Peace, Trade, Economy, Development, Society, History, Geography, Culture, Minorities by Neytcho Iltchev

In 1870, most of the Balkans were still under Ottoman control, with the exception of the few Balkan Christian groups who had managed to free themselves and form their own independent states. The Greeks were one of these groups, although independent Greece still only included the Peloponnese, Attica and a few of the Cycladian islands. The Serbs were another group, although autonomous Serbia far from including all of the Serbian people. Some Serbian refugees of the 17th and l 8th centuries became Austrian or Hungarian subjects; others remained under Turkish rule. The Montenegrins had an independent patriarchal state, and finally, by means of the Crimean War, the Rumanians created an autonomous principality, although many Rumanians still lived outside of it in Transylvania and Bukovina. The Bulgarians, the Albanians, numerous and Bosnia-Herzegovinian Serbs remained Ottoman subjects. Repeated intervention by the Great Powers in the Balkans during the first two-thirds of the 19th century was considered an encouraging sign by the Turkish-ruled populations. The United Kingdom was strongly opposed to the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire, especially in any way that might allow the Russians access to the eastern Mediterranean. The British attitude hardened in 1869 when the opening of the Suez Canal made the Mediterranean the shortest route to India. Russia and, to a lesser degree, Austria-Hungary, watched everything that happened in the Balkans with great interest. Both hoped to see the Turks leave, in theory to liberate the Christian peoples, but also for other obvious political and economic reasons. For the Russians, the Balkans could open a gate to the sea. To the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the Balkans seemed a natural geographic extension of the Empire. Part of the Empire's population had racial kin living in the Balkans, so Russian presence in the region threatened the cohesion of the Dual Monarchy; Russian-liberated Slavic states acted as magnets, attracting Slavs away from Austria-Hungary. Therefore, as far as Vienna was concerned, if the Balkans had to be liberated, better it be by Austria-Hungary than by Russia.

This conflict of interests, latent since the beginning of the century, began to develop into a pronounced rivalry in the 1870s. During that time, Russia appeared particularly interested in the Bulgarians. As we noted in previous chapters, national consciousness came late to the Bulgarians, but by 1870, Bulgarian patriots had become more active. Most of them were living in exile in Rumania, and under the leadership of Vasil Levski (1837-1873) and Luben Karavelov (1834-1891), they began to pave the way for revolt. They were in contact with members of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Revolution, a secret organization in existence since 1869. They also distributed subversive literature and organized terrorist attacks. Levski was caught participating in such an act, and was executed in February, 1873. The Russian government supported Bulgarian aspirations for independence, both through a committee to aid the Slavs created in 1856 in St. Petersburg, and through the diplomatic channels of Ambassador Ignatiev at Constantinople. One concrete result occurred in 1870; the Bulgarian church gained its independence from the patriarchate at Constantinople, and an independent Bulgarian exarchate was created with authority over Macedonia and all of Bulgaria proper. Then the Russian government began to feel the negative effects of Bulgarian activism within Russia, and hesitated to encourage further acts of terrorism.

Austro-Hungarian authorities had little interest in Bulgaria and made no effort to hinder Russia's actions there. They were attentive, however, to happenings in Bosnia-Herzegovina whose territory adjoined autonomous Serbia and Montenegro. The Austro-Hungarians hoped that the eventual liberation of Bosnia-Herzegovina would not lead to an expansion of Serbia toward the Adriatic, because Serbia's access to the Adriatic could eventually benefit Russia. In the spring of 1875, Emperor Franz Joseph took a trip to inspect the Dalmatian and Croatian border with the Ottoman Empire. The Slavic population of Bosnia-Herzegovina took this as a cue to rise up against the Turks, who were experiencing a serious political and financial crisis. Sultan Abdul-Aziz I (1861-1876) was again pressuring his subjects in the Ottoman Empire in order to cover interest payments on the foreign debt. Officially sanctioned extortion by Turkish tax collectors provoked an insurrection in a Serbian village of Herzegovina in July, 1875. Within a few weeks the unrest had spread throughout the province and into Bosnia. Volunteers from Serbia joined the revolutionaries. The Turks reacted violently, massacring the civilian population, but the insurrection left its mark. In April, 1876, Bulgarian revolutionary committees unleashed a general revolt. Bulgarian exiles from Rumania came to lend a hand to their compatriots under the leadership of Hristo Botev. The Great Powers intervened on behalf of the sultan, demanding payment of Turkish debts and an improvement of the lot of the Christian populations. This intervention, which came at a time when new revolts were breaking out everywhere, provoked a nationalistic reaction from the Turks; in Salonica, they assassinated the French and German consuls and harassed European residents.

Despite repression, the revolutionary movement gathered force in the Balkans. In July, 1876, Serbia and Montenegro entered the fray. These two countries hoped to share Bosnia-Herzegovina, and together were trying to contain any expansion of liberated Bulgarians to the west. The struggle against the Turks had not diluted ancestral rivalries between the Serbs and the Bulgarians. The Serbs were quickly defeated by the Turks, but the Montenegrins, commanded by the Russian general Tchernaev, fared better.

The rapid deterioration of the Ottoman Empire led first to a palace revolt in Constantinople. In May, 1876, Abdul-Aziz was deposed by his nephew Murad, who went mad shortly thereafter and was deposed in turn on August 30,1876, by his brother Abdul-Hamid Il(1876-1909). In view of the mounting disturbances and the severe repression that resulted, Austria- Hungary and Russia agreed on an eventual joint intervention. In July, 1 876, Count Andrassy met with his Russian counterpart Gorchakov in Bohemia, and the two diplomats worked out a division of the Balkans: the west, or Bosnia-Herzegovina, would go to Austria-Hungary, and the east, or Bulgaria, would become Russia's.

In Constantinople, agents of the Great Powers continued negotiations with the sultan. The British were anxious to humour the Turks and settled for vague promises that the lot of the Christians would be improved. But Russia, supported by Austria-Hungary, insisted on definite commitments from the Turks. The Turks replied with dishonesty and Turkish partisans proceeded to carry out new massacres in Bulgaria, provoking a Russian declaration of war on April 24, 1877. The Russians attacked on two fronts, in the Caucasus in the direction of Armenia, and in Bulgaria toward Constantinople.

Armenia and Bulgaria were quickly liberated. The Turks requested an armistice on January 3 1, 1878, and signed the Treaty of San Stefano on the following March 3. The treaty represented a major victory for Russia and at the same time guaranteed the liberation of nearly all the Balkan peoples. States that were already autonomous, such as Rumania, Serbia and Montenegro, gained total independence and slightly expanded their territories. An autonomous greater Bulgaria, under Russian influence, came into being. Russia expanded its territory in Asia Minor with Kars, Ardahan and Batum, and then annexed Bessarabia, which had been ceded by Rumania. Rumania in turn received part of Bulgarian Dobrudja in compensation. As expected, Austria-Hungary took over the administration of Bosnia- Herzegovina.

Great Britain, and to a lesser extent, Austria-Hungary, reacted sharply to this Russian presence in the Balkans. Disraeli, the English prime minister, threatened to intervene and promised the Turks his support. (The Turks later reciprocated by ceding Cyprus to the English.) In view of the agitated emotional climate in Great Britain, Gorchakov agreed to the meeting of a European congress suggested by Bismarck. At the Congress of Berlin (June 13-July 13, 1878), Russia lost ground. Rumania, Serbia and Montenegro remained independent, but the latter two countries had to give up some of what they had gained from the Treaty of San Stefano. Serbia kept Vranje, Nish and Pirot. Montenegro kept the port of Antivari. Greater Bulgaria was dismembered with the south remaining in the hands of the Turks; Rumelia was proclaimed a Turkish province, but with a Christian government and an autonomous administration; north-western Bulgaria, including Sofia, became an autonomous principality. Thrace and Macedonia, assigned to greater Bulgaria at San Stefano, remained Turkish.

For the peoples concerned, the Congress of Berlin was highly upsetting. It was a painful failure of Russian policy in the Balkans even though they had held on to Kars, Batum and Bessarabia. Relations between St. Petersburg and Vienna, already deteriorating, suffered even more when Austria- Hungary retained control over certain areas. Its presence in Bosnia- Herzegovina and in the sanjak of Novi Pazar separated the Serbs from Montenegro and thus from all possibility of access to the Adriatic coast. For the Serbs, Austria became a potential adversary just as formidable as the Turks. The Bulgarians, whose human losses had been considerable, were far from satisfied in losing Thrace and Macedonia. Once again, the Great Powers had looked after their own interests first when deciding the fate of the Balkan peoples.